April has been the month of the lambs. A pair of twins appeared on the 3rd. Then, in seven consecutive birthing days beginning on the 9th, 17 more were born, 7 pairs and 3 singles. When I look out at the flock it seems there are more lambs than ewes. A few are mostly black. Most are spotted black and white, making it hard to tell them apart.

Not so with the ewes. If an unrelated lamb tries to suck he is promptly pushed away. At other times they reject one of their own. One afternoon Robin found a spotted little one outside the fence. When she tried to put her with the "logical" ewe, the lamb was promptly butted away. The ewe had another newborn, mostly black. (When I checked my records I discovered that this ewe has had one lamb, black, in each of the past two years). It is so wrenching to watch as one of these tiny ones goes running after a ewe, only to be pushed, if she's lucky, or butted away. Their cries remind me of a newly born infant.

Paul and Robin did some research on how to persuade reluctant moms to accept their young. So Paul constructed a stanchion (the structure that holds a cow's head while she is milked) in the box stall in our barn. He put the ewe in the stanchion and the two lambs in the stall with her. The idea is to allow the lambs freedom to suck. After 48 hours the "alien" lamb should smell familiar to the ewe because she has had a chance to suckle and thus excrete familiar odor. This strategy seems to have worked. The lamb can suck as long as her twin is sucking also.

The pastures are lush and green making a vivid contrast with the fleecy white and black wool of the lambs. Within days of birth they discover each other and quickly find joy in dashing from one end of the pasture to the other. Then suddenly one will become hungry. You can see the head come straight up. Then with lots of baaas they go tearing around to find their moms. When twins get to her at the same time, they can literally push her off her hind legs as they punch up the teats.

The redbuds came back full and bright, thank God. Robin and I had a couple of anxious weeks looking for signs that they had recovered from last year's devastating frost. The white dogwood is spectacular this year. It often grows with the redbud near dark green cedars. Lovely contrast. Our creekbanks are covered with wild blue phlox and golden buttercups. I wonder if the phlox are a gift of the flood. I've seen some in the past but not the profusion of this year. Earlier in the season I was delighted to find the delicate rue anemone, spring beauty, and blood root along the scoured banks.

Paul had a couple of tense weeks waiting for the ground to dry out enough to get spring planting underway. The greenhouse was full of plants desperate to be set. Finally some planting "windows" of dry weather appeared. Broccoli, 5 varieties of lettuce, spinach, arugula, kale, cabbage, onions, potatoes, and peas have all been set. The strawberries are setting fruit. Looks like our official season will begin the 3rd week in May.

Phoebe and Rob were here last week. They got to help out with a group of third graders visiting from Louisville for 2 nights. One little girl impressed all of the adults by her persistence in learning to split wood. The maul is quite heavy. She could barely lift it. But she stayed behind when the others left. She kept trying, lifting it a bit higher each time, until she had enough force to bring it down and split the wood. What a triumph for her.

John is here for a week. He and Paul are constructing a smoke house for the hams from last year's pigs. Paul had earlier constructed a sturdy oak box to store the salted meat until it was ready to be smoked. That will take a while Meantime, we plan to sample one in the next few days. Paul is soaking it. Then will apply his special brown sugar and hot pepper coating before baking. What a treat-- country ham!

On Saturday our parish will gather for our annual Derby Day party. No more juleps for me. I'll stick with the cabernet. We are also looking forward to a diocesan visit by our Presiding Bishop Katherine Schori later next month. Her leadership of our church fills me with such hope. I can't wait to see her in person.

One proselytyzing note: Michael Pollen had an essay in the NY Times Sunday magazine two weeks ago, called Why Bother? Takes him a while to get to the point but he uses an analogy for "going green" that I've been pondering for the past few months. Essay also available on his website.

Enough already! Love, Louise